Constitution

Background

Yorkshire St. Pauli was formed in 2011 by a group of individuals who wanted to organise regular meetings where St. Pauli fans could gather within Yorkshire and watch games. Yorkshire St. Pauli was soon registered as an official fanclub and a venue was found to start meeting every couple of weeks to watch games.

The aims of Yorkshire St. Pauli

To meet-up and watch games on a regular basis.

To reflect the values and ethos of St. Pauli. Standing against all forms of discrimination.

Ensuring people feel welcome at our meetings, whilst making sure members and guests are aware of the ideology of St. Pauli.

Membership

Membership starts on 1st July and ends on 30th June each year.

Memberships bought after 1st July still require full payment and are only valid until 30th June.

The membership fee is set prior to the start of the season, during an annual vote of all current members.

Each member has an equal power, with each person having 1 vote on all Yorkshire St. Pauli matters. Where appropriate, important decisions will be voted on by all members.

In situations which require privacy or involve sensitive matters, Yorkshire St. Pauli has a committee which will vote on such issues. See committee section.

Membership is not obligatory, but we would like all active individuals within the group to become members in order to support the group financially.

Finances – Membership Fund

A membership fee is required to cover the running costs of the group.

The membership fee is set at the start of each season by a membership vote (see point 2 in membership section), and either a percentage or the entirety of this fee will go towards the membership fund. How the membership fee is divided and used is also decided by members by way of a vote.

It is suggested that a minimum of £1 from each membership payment needs to go to the fanclub each season to cover all costs.

Runnings costs include (but are not limited to):

Registration as an official fanclub.

Subscription to St. Pauli TV in order to allow the group to watch delayed coverage of games.

Maintenance of digital media, such as our website and social media.

Costs involved in making flags/banners, organising events or other such activities within the scope of running a fanclub.

Membership fees are kept in a bank account which is administered by the treasurer and funds are used for the specific purposes outlined above.

Finances – Social Fund

Entirely separate to the membership fees accrued, Yorkshire St. Pauli also have a Social Fund.

The Social Fund is a separate entity, with a separate treasurer, bank account and is for entirely different purposes. Whereas the membership funds cover the running costs of the fanclub, the social fund is to help with other activities that St. Pauli are involved in.

The Social Fund will be funded through donations from members, whether in the way of a portion of the membership fee or a separate donation. Events and fundraising activities will also be organised in order to fund the Social Fund.

The scope of the Social Fund is wide reaching, but the principal is to help run social activities and events for the benefit of people outside of our membership and the fund will be used to subsidise such events for the benefits of those individuals, not the benefits of our members. An example would be the weekly ‘Football For All’ football matches that are organised through Yorkshire St. Pauli, where refugees and asylum seekers are invited to play for free. The cost of subsiding this for the benefit of those individuals would be covered through the Social Fund.

As the scope of the Social Fund is not strictly defined, the Treasurer along with two other members who volunteer to take on the role will form a committee, and will decide unanimously on how the Social Fund is spent.

If there are any objections to how the Social Fund is used, this will be raised with the committee and furthermore with the membership where required.

Behaviours

St. Pauli is more than a football club. It has a strong and passionate stance against all forms of discrimination. Members of Yorkshire St. Pauli should support this ethos, and members should act in accordance with this ethos, namely:

No discrimination of any kind will be tolerated, in any circumstances.

Any anti-social behaviour, such as violence, threats of violence or inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated.

Discrimination is defined as “it is forbidden to defame people, because of colour of skin, religion, gender or sexual orientation.” This is the same as the St. Pauli stadium rules, which we echo.

Members should be particularly aware of any guests from charities or organisations that we welcome to our events, and ensure that our guests feel comfortable and welcome.

Furthermore, members should be aware of and adhere to the rules of the appropriate venue at all times. We have full respect for the venues we use, and will fully support the decision of any venue if a member is adjudged to have broken one of their rules.

Any behaviour deemed not appropriate can be referred to the committee by anyone, and can be reported either in person, or via email to info@yorkshirestpauli.com. The committee will then assess the issue and decide how to proceed.

Any conduct that breaches the above outlined behaviours may result in membership being revoked and you being banned from future Yorkshire St. Pauli events.

Committee

Yorkshire St. Pauli has a committee, consisting of 11 members at any one time.

Each member of the committee must be a fully paid member.

A committee member can stand down at any time.

The committee is open to all, and as such any paid member of Yorkshire St. Pauli can ask to be join the committee. The membership will be consulted as to whether there are any objections towards the member joining the committee, and unless any objections are forthcoming they will join the committee immediately. The only exception is if a sensitive situation or incident is being discussed by the committee and therefore it is not suitable for the member to join immediately, at which point the member will join following the conclusion of such discussions.

Any member can raise a complaint against any or all of the committee and have a vote of no confidence. This would then be put to the membership as a whole to discuss how to proceed.

At the end of each season (from 2014/15 onwards), the committee will be asked if they have any objections to any or all of the committee continuing for the following season, and if any objections are raised these will be brought to the attention of the whole membership to vote on how to proceed. At this point, it will be re-enforced to members that anyone can join the committee to see whether there are any members who wish to join the committee at this point.

The role of the committee is to be proactive in organising and running the fanclub on a daily basis, as well as making the daily unimportant decisions that do not require a membership vote. However, unless it is impractical to do so, all important decisions will be referred to the entire membership for a membership vote.

The committee also oversees the membership and enforces the constitution. Where a member breaches the constitution, the committee will enforce the rules and decide on what action the group should take. Where possible, major decisions will be referred to the entire membership, however some incidents require discretion or a quick response, meaning a membership vote is impractical.

The committee will work to a majority vote of at least 9 of the committee in favour of the decision, against a total of 11 committee members. We will where possible strive to achieve a unanimous vote, however we are aware that this is not always practical. Having a vast majority vote is practical whilst still ensuring that a high proportion of committee members agree with a decision.

In the event of a member being unhappy with a committee decision, they have the right to appeal. In this instance, the entire membership will hear the circumstances involved and the reasoning of the committee. The membership will then make a majority decision based on the circumstances.